Display carton with folding easel



P. A. TOENSMEIER DISPLAY CARTON WITH FOL-DING EASEL July 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 24, 1956 INVENTOB m a J Ike/a ATTORNEY$ y 1957 PIA. TOENSMEIER 2,799,390

DISPLAY CARTON WITH FOLDING EASEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 24. 1956 v lNV NTOR I 2M Mm We M,M

77 KIM I ATToRNE Y "aired States Patent 2,799,390 v DISPLAY CARTON WITH FOLDING EASEL assig'nor to The Patrick A. Toensmeier, Hamden, Conn.,

New Haven,

New Haven Board & Carton Company, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut This invention relates to cartons of the typeused in both the shipment and display of articles of merchandise, and is concerned more particularly with a novel assembly comprising a carton and a folding easel attached thereto. The easel is adapted during shipment to provide additional protection for the contents of the carton, and, at the point of delivery, the easel may be readily set up to support the carton at an angle, so that its contents are readily visible.

In the new carton assembly, the carton and easel are made from separate blanks of paperboard material, and the easel blank includes a base for attachment to the back of the carton and is so formed that it may lie flat upon the carton blank to facilitate shipping ofthe blanks. When the carton is erected, the side portions of the easel may lie against the side walls of the carton, so that the side portions and the base provide extra thicknesses of material on the bottom and side walls of the carton and afford additional protection for the contents of the carton. Such reinforcement of the bottom and side walls of the carton is important, when the carton is used in shipping fragile articles, such as cookies, for example. W

At the point of use, the side portions of the easel blank may be quickly folded and attached to the back "of the carton to form an easel having spaced sturdy semi-pyramidal legs. Since the easel blank is separate from the carton blank, it may be made of a material selected because of its qualities of strength, low cost, etc. Also the easel blank may be out so that, when it is attached to the carton blank, the grain of the easel blank material is oriented in a direction providing the maximum strength in the legs of the easel. This permits lighter and less expensive materials to be employed in the easel.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of the carton and easel assembly with the easel collapsed;

Fig. 2 is a back perspective view of the assembly of Fig. 1 with the easel in operative position;

Fig. 3 is a front perspective view of the assembly with parts broken away and the easel in operative position; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blanks forming the carton and easel.

The carton of the new assembly is formed from a paperboard blank cut and creased to form a bottom wall 19, side walls 11, 12, pairs of end wall flaps 13, 14, and end walls 15, 16. The side walls 11, 12 and end walls 15, 16 are hinged to the side and end edges, respectively, of the bottom wall 10, while the pairs of end wall flaps 13, 14 are hinged to the opposite end edges of side walls 11, 12. The flaps 13, 14 have tabs 13a, 14a at their free ends, which may be interlocked to connect the flaps of each pair together, so that the flaps form the outer wall of a double end wall.

The end wall 15, which lies at the lower end of the carton, when the latter is supported by the easel, is hinged to one end of the bottom wall of the carton along a crease line and is adapted to be folded to lie at right angles to the bottom wall and inside the interlocked flaps 14 to form the inner wall of the double wall at thatend of the carton. The other end wall 16 is hinged along a crease line at the opposite end of the bottom wall 10 and is adapted to be folded to lie at right angles to the bottom wall and to lie inside interlocked flaps 13 to form the inner wall at the other end of the carton.

A cover 17 is hinged along a crease line to the free edge ofthe end wall 16. The cover is about the same size as the bottom wall 10 and it is provided with tuck flaps 18 and 19 hinged at its sides and free end, respectively. A line 20 of perforations extending transversely of the cover divides it into two parts, of which the part 21 lying adjacent Wall 16 forms a display flap carrying advertising matter.

A pair of U-shaped cuts 22 are formed in the bottom wall 10 with the ends of the cuts lying in the crease lines between the side walls 11, 12 and the bottom wall. The cuts 22 form tongues 23, which project into the outline of the bottom wall and are integral with the respective side walls. When the side walls 11, 12 are bent out of the plane of the bottom wall 10, elongated slots 23a are formed at the side edges of the bottom wall 10 as the tongues 23 swing out of the plane thereof.

The easel is made from a blank 24 of paperboard or similar material, which is cut and creased to form a base panel 25, forming its central portion, and two series of triangular panels 27, 28, 29 connected to each side of the base panel and foldable to form a pair of legs of semi-pyramidal form. The base panel 25 has the shape of an inverted triangle and its upper edge or base line 26 is at least as wide as the bottom wall 10 of the car-ton. The triangular panels of each series have their apices meeting at a common point, and the innermost panel 27 of each series is attached to the base panel 25 in such manner that the common points meet at the respective upper corners of the base panel 25. The outer panels 29 of each series are provided with outwardly projecting tongues 30 on their 'free outer edges, as shown in Fig. 4.

The number of panels comprising each series is not critical, but, for best results in the easel illustrated, at least three such panels should be provided in each series. The apex angles of the innermost panels 27 are complementary to the corner angles of the base panel 25 so that, when the easel blank lies fiat, the outer edges of the panels 27 are perpendicular to the upper edge 26 of the base panel and lie parallel to each other along the side edges of the bottom wall. The center panels 28 and outer panels 29 of each series have a combined width measured from the inner edges of the center panels 28 to the free tip portions of the outer panels 29, which is approximately equal to the width of the respective side walls 11, 12.

In the production of the carton, the easel blank 24 is attached to the carton blank by gluing the base panel 25 of the easel to the bottom Wall 10 of the carton with the base line 26 of the base panel parallel with the upper end edge of the carton bottom wall 10 and the base panel centered between the side edges of the bottom wall. The assembled carton and easel blanks may then be shipped in fiat condition to the places, where the carton is to be erected and filled with merchandise. Ordinarily, the loaded carton is then shipped to retail stores and other outlets for final distribution.

To erect the carton, the side walls 11, 12 and end walls 15, 16 are bent at right angles to the bottom wall 10 and the pairs of end wall flaps 13, 14 are folded toward each other and interlocked by means of tabs 13a, 14a, so that double end walls are formed with the walls 15, 16 lying inside the walls formed by flaps 13, 14. The center and outer panels 28 and 29 of each series are then folded as a unit along the crease lines between panels 27 and 28, so that panels 28 and 29 lie at right angles to the base panel 25 and against the outerfaces of side walls 11, 12, as shown in Fig. l. The carton is now ready to be filled. When the carton is filled, the cover 17 is closed by folding it along the crease line between section 21 of the cover and the end wall 16 so that the cover overlies the contents of the carton. In the closing of the carton, the side tuck flaps 18 of the cover are inserted inside the side walls 11, 12, and the front tuck flap 19 is inserted between the end wall and flaps 14. In this condition, the carton is ready for shipping and the base panel and inner panels 27 of the easel lie flat against the bottom wall 10, while the center and outer panels 28 and 29 lie flat against the side walls 11, 12. The easel panel thus provides double thicknesses of material on the top and along the side of the carton, which afford additional pro tection to the contents of the carton during shipping.

At the point of use, the easel is set up for display by folding the inner panels 27 of each series away from the bottom wall 10 of the carton and bending the easel blank along its crease lines, so that the panels of each series form semi-pyramidal legs with the free edges of panels 29 lying against the bottom Wall along its side edges. The tongues 30 are then inserted in the slots 23a at the side edges of the wall 10 to hold the panels in place to form the legs described. The center panels 28 and outer panels 29 are so cut that, when the easel is erected to form the semi-pyramidal legs, the lower edges of both panels 28 and 29 are in contact with the counter or other surface, upon which the carton is supported. The legs of the easel, accordingly, contact the supporting surface along lines extending at angles to each other and a stable support is thus provided. When the carton is ready for display, the cover is swung upwardly and it is torn ofi along the scored line 20, as illustrated in Fig. 3, to leave the display flap 21 at the upper end of the carton.

The new assembly has several advantages over similar prior cartons, as, for example, by forming the easel of a plurality of triangularly shaped panel sections folded to lie at angles to one another, supporting members of great rigidity are provided. Thus, the central or primary supporting panels 28 are braced by the inner panels 27, so

that the panels 28 cannot buckle, and the inner panels 27 and outer panels 29 are similarly braced against buckling by the central panels 28. The easel is so formed that, during shipping of the filled carton, portions of the easel blank overlie the side walls of the container, while other portions lie against the bottom wall. Such an arrangement provides additional protection to the contents of the carton, and this is important, when the carton is used for the shipment of fragile articles, such as cookies, crackers, or the like.

I claim:

1. A combined display carton and easel assembly comprising a carton having bottom, side, and end walls, and an easel separate from the carton having a base panel having converging sides and affixed in face-to-face relation to the bottom wall of the carton and two series of supporting panels connected to respective side edges of the base panel along fold lines, the supporting panels being of triangular form and being secured to each other along fold lines with the apices of the panels of each series meeting at respective common points spaced transversely of the base panel, the supporting panels of each series being foldable on the fold lines to form semipyramidal legs having free edges lying in contact with the bottom wall of the carton parallel to the side edges of the bottom Wall, and interengaging means on the free edge of the end panel of each series and the bottom wall of the carton for holding the supporting panels in folded relation.

2. The assembly of claim 1, in which the base panel is an isosceles triangle having its apex pointed downwardly, and the inner supporting panels of each series hinged to the side edges of the base have apex angles complementary to the base angles of the base panel. 

